Education Festival Recap

Following Thursday’s General Session: State of the Industry, attendees took to the 4th floor of the Orange County Convention Center to partake in a fast-paced Education Festival. These sessions ranged from casual one-on-ones, to group chats, to drop-in Q&A panels.

Hot Topics

Discussions on carbon, supply chain matters, the upcoming Farm Bill, and consumer habits (and more!) were discussed in the seminar halls.

• ?Keeping Our Supply Chain Strong discussed the pros and cons of open sharing, and sustainability for a certain purpose. Information can be damaging without a context, and cause trouble down the line. Attendees picked up a few tips to help drive their businesses.
• Advocacy 101: Speaking Up for Produce (Part 1) laid out the political advocacy process in Washington, DC, and the importance of making time to be a thoughtful constituent. You will be shocked at the level of engagement you receive from fellow industry members!
• ?Psychology of The Consumer delved into the emotional connections that can be made with customers. Speaker Aaron Reid, Founder and CEO, Sentient Decision Science, pointed to a pistachio ad in order to show how changing the tone of your marketing can create a big impact: “That’s not a health ad. That’s an excitement message.” With all of the anxiety caused by the pandemic and other global events, companies see a new avenue for marketing their products.
• Social Media Messaging & Measurement broke down the key elements for creating strong engagement with an audience, and it begins with the 5 Ws of social media. You don’t need to be on all of the platforms, but you do want your following to expect unified content, whether it’s how to store produce, farming topics, recipes, or funny videos. Kim Chackal, Director of Sales & Marketing at Equifruit, summed it up with this: “We can tell you that there is potassium in bananas, but the competition has that point covered.” Identify your target audience, and tailor your message accordingly.

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What People Were Saying

Here is what your colleagues had to say about the festival:

“I’m here to learn about sustainability and different food trends, and tracking consumer habits and social media for the produce industry.” – Bonnie Fuson, Pacific Coast Fruit Company

?“We’re here to promote the association and the IFPA, but also to bring people from my company to introduce them to everything great about the IFPA and everything that we do.” – Tom Brugato, Pacific Coast Fruit Company

?“I’m looking to learn as much as I can here about this whole industry.” – Janie Chapin, Louisiana State University

“I’m here to stay abreast of all the new products and technologies. And also to promote walnuts! #walnutsareproducetoo We’re trained to bring walnuts back to the produce department on a year round basis. This gives us an opportunity to meet some of our retailers and customers, but also to look at the new and emerging technologies, sustainability, and packaging. It’s the whole spectrum, from buying to selling.” – Robert Verloop, CEO, California Walnut Commission